My lab is interested in how the gut microbiota use the complex glycans available to them within the human gut, focussing on the Bacteroidetes. We are particularly interested in glycoside hydrolase enzymes that target the glycans of pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Candida albicans. We use a combination of microbiology, biochemistry, glycobiology and structural biology to understand the activity and function of these enzymes. We are also interested in the mechanisms of how Bacteroides sense and respond to the glycans they encounter using unusual hybrid two-component systems, and how they use the Type 9 Secretion System to enable extracellular glycan degradation.

Current lab members:

Dr Jennifer Ross

Omar Al-Jourani (PhD Student)

Diana Githwe (PhD student)

Joe Manion (PhD student)

Google Scholar profile

CMB1003 - Microbiology and Immunology

BMS2015 - Health and Disease at Mucosal Surfaces

MMB8048 - Human Health and the Impact of Microbial Genomics

• La Rosa SL, Ostrowski MP, Vera-Ponce de Leon A, McKee LS, Larsbrink J, Eijsink VG, Lowe EC, Martens EC, Pope PB. Glycan processing in gut microbiomes. Current Opinion in Microbiology 2022, 67, 102143.
• Cartmell A, Munoz-Munoz J, Briggs JA, Ndeh DA, Lowe EC, Basle A, Terrapon N, Stott K, Heunis T, Gray J, Yu L, Dupree P, Fernandes PZ, Shah S, Williams SJ, Labourel A, Trost M, Henrissat B, Gilbert HJ. Author Correction: A surface endogalactanase in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron confers keystone status for arabinogalactan degradation. Nature Microbiology 2019, 4(11), 2021-2023.
• Briliute J, Urbanowicz PA, Luis AS, Baslé A, Paterson N, Rebello O, Hendel J, Ndeh DA, Lowe EC, Martens EC, Spencer DIR, Bolam DN, Crouch LI. Complex N-glycan breakdown by gut Bacteroides involves an extensive enzymatic apparatus encoded by multiple co-regulated genetic loci. Nature Microbiology 2019, 4, 1571-1581.
• Cartmell A, Munoz-Munoz J, Briggs JA, Ndeh DA, Lowe EC, Basle A, Terrapon N, Stott K, Heunis T, Gray J, Yu L, Dupree P, Fernandes PZ, Shah S, Williams SJ, Labourel A, Trost M, Henrissat B, Gilbert HJ. A surface endogalactanase in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron confers keystone status forarabinogalactan degradation. Nature Microbiology 2018, 3, 1314-1326.
• Luis AS, Briggs J, Zhang X, Farnell B, Ndeh D, Labourel A, Baslé A, Cartmell A, Terrapon N, Stott K, Lowe EC, McLean R, Shearer K, Schückel J, Venditto I, Ralet MC, Henrissat B, Martens EC, Mosimann SC, Abbott DW, Gilbert HJ. Dietary pectic glycans are degraded by coordinated enzyme pathways in human colonic Bacteroides. Nature Microbiology 2018, 3(2), 210-219.
• Temple MJ, Cuskin F, Baslé A, Hickey N, Speciale G, Williams SJ, Gilbert HJ, Lowe EC. A Bacteroidetes locus dedicated to fungal 1,6-β-glucan degradation: unique substrate conformation drives specificity of the key endo-1,6-β-glucanase. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2017, 292(25), 10639-10650.
• Danne C, Ryzhakov G, Martinez-Lopez M, Ilott NE, Franchini F, Cuskin F, Lowe EC, Bullers SJ, Arthur JSC, Powrie F. A Large Polysaccharide Produced by Helicobacter hepaticus Induces an Anti-inflammatory Gene Signature in Macrophages. Cell Host and Microbe 2017, 22(6), 733-745.e5.
• Cartmell A, Lowe EC, Baslé A, Firbank SJ, Ndeh DA, Murray H, Terrapon N, Lombard V, Henrissat B, Turnbull JE, Czjzek M, Gilbert HJ, Bolam DN. How members of the human gut microbiota overcome the sulfation problem posed by glycosaminoglycans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2017, 114(27), 7037-7042.
• Lowe EC, Cuskin F, Temple MJ, Basle A, Williams SJ, Gilbert HJ. Fungal cell wall glucan metabolism by Bacteroides in the human gut. In: 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society for Glycobiology. 2016, New Orleans, Louisiana: Oxford University Press.
• Gilbert HJ, Ndeh D, Rogowski A, Cuskin F, Lowe E, Martens EC. Understanding complex glycan utilization in the human microbiota. In: 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society for Glycobiology. 2016, New Orleans, Louisiana: Oxford University Press.
• Abbott DW, Martens EC, Gilbert HJ, Cuskin F, Lowe EC. Coevolution of yeast mannan digestion: Convergence of the civilized human diet, distal gut microbiome, and host immunity. Gut Microbes 2015, 6(5), 334-339.
• Rogowski A, Briggs JA, Mortimer JC, Tryfona T, Terrapon N, Lowe EC, Baslé A, Morland C, Day AM, Zheng H, Rogers TE, Thompson P, Hawkins AR, Yadav MP, Henrissat B, Martens EC, Dupree P, Gilbert HJ, Bolam DN. Glycan complexity dictates microbial resource allocation in the large intestine. Nature Communications 2015, 6, 7481.
• Cuskin F, Lowe EC, Temple MJ, Zhu YP, Cameron EA, Pudlo NA, Porter NT, Urs K, Thompson AJ, Cartmell A, Rogowski A, Hamilton BS, Chen R, Tolbert TJ, Piens K, Bracke D, Vervecken W, Hakki Z, Speciale G, Munoz-Munoz JL, Day A, Pena MJ, McLean R, Suits MD, Boraston AB, Atherly T, Ziemer CJ, Williams SJ, Davies GJ, Abbott DW, Martens EC, Gilbert HJ. Human gut Bacteroidetes can utilize yeast mannan through a selfish mechanism. Nature 2015, 517(7533), 165-169.
• Cuskin F, Baslé A, Ladevèze S, Day AM, Gilbert HJ, Davies GJ, Potocki-Véronèse G, Lowe EC. The GH130 Family of Mannoside Phosphorylases Contains Glycoside Hydrolases That Target β-1,2-Mannosidic Linkages in Candida Mannan. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2015, 290(41), 25023-25033.
• Williams RJ, Iglesias-Fernandez J, Stepper J, Jackson A, Thompson AJ, Lowe EC, White JM, Gilbert HJ, Rovira C, Davies GJ, Williams SJ. Combined Inhibitor Free-Energy Landscape and Structural Analysis Reports on the Mannosidase Conformational Coordinate. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2014, 53(4), 1087-1091.
• Raghavan V, Lowe EC, Townsend GE, Bolam DN, Groisman EA. Tuning transcription of nutrient utilization genes to catabolic rate promotes growth in a gut bacterium. Molecular Microbiology 2014, 93(5), 1010-1025.
• Lowe EC, Baslé A, Czjzek M, Firbank SJ, Bolam DN. A scissor blade-like closing mechanism implicated in transmembrane signaling in a Bacteroides hybrid two-component system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2012, 109(19), 7298-7303.
• Martens EC, Lowe EC, Chiang H, Pudlo NA, Wu M, McNulty NP, Abbott DW, Henrissat B, Gilbert HJ, Bolam DN, Gordon JI. Recognition and degradation of plant cell wall polysaccharides by two human gut symbionts. PLoS Biology 2011, 9(12), e1001221.
• Lowe EC, Bydder S, Hartshorne RS, Tape HLU, Dridge EJ, Debieux CM, Paszkiewicz K, Singleton I, Lewis RJ, Santini JM, Richardson DJ, Butler CS. Quinol-cytochrome c Oxidoreductase and Cytochrome c₄ Mediate Electron Transfer during Selenate Respiration in Thauera selenatis. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2010, 285(24), 18433-18442.